US markets declined, with the Dow Jones down -4.1% and S&P500 down -4.2%, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell Signalled in Jackson Hole that the Fed is likely to keep raising interest rates and leave them elevated for a while to stamp out inflation.
Long-dated U.S. treasury yields were higher, with the 2-Yr yield at 3.48% and 10-Yr yield at 3.18%.
EUROPEAN MARKETS
European markets declined with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index down -5.3%, UK FTSE down -1.9% and German DAX down -4.8%.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian markets were mostly higher over the month, with the Shanghai Composite down -1.6%, as negative sentiment from China’s historic drought spawning power crisis leading to shutdown of factories was partially offset as China stepped up its economic stimulus by announcing a further 1 trillion yuan of funding largely focused on infrastructure spending and PBOC cut 1-year LPR by -5bps to 3.65% and urged lenders, especially major state-owned banks, reducing 5-year LPR, a reference for mortgages, by -15bps to 4.3%. Nikkei was up +1.0% and KOSPI gained +0.8%.
COMMODITIES
Over the month, WTI oil price declined -8.2% to US$88.81/bbl, as concerns over a recession induced decline in demand for oil were partially offset by IEA boosting its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2922 by 380k barrels a day, saying soaring natural gas prices and heat waves are prompting industry and power generators to switch their fuel to oil, and OPEC+ tightening its outlook for global oil markets for 2022 and 2023, slashing forecasts for 2022 supply surplus by -50% to 400k barrels a day and flipping projections for 2023 from an overhang of 900k barrels a day to a deficit of 300k a day, as members struggle to reach output targets.
